Tips for students

-    At home and at school, adjust the computer workstation to a comfortable position

-    Take breaks every thirty minutes, move around and stretch

-    Do not overload your backpack; it should weigh up to 10 to 15% more than your weight

-    Establish a schedule to play computer games, and switch between games that allow you to use different controls so that your thumbs don’t get numb

-    If you have an after school job, avoid lifting, carrying, and working with your hands overhead, bending your back, and repeating movements

-    Ask your employer about the ergonomics principles they recommend

Tips for school staff

Teachers

-    Adjust the computer workstation to a comfortable position
-    Do not bend your back for a long time when working with the students, sit down or squat for short whiles

Custodians

-    Do not lift heavy mop buckets to pour into sinks, look for a floor drain and tip the bucket over, or get a bucket with a bottom emptier

Kitchen staff

-    Store heavy supplies on lower shelves
-    Open heavy boxes and put items away individually
-    Use carts to move pots, supplies, and other heavy objects

Librarians

-    Adjust the computer workstation to a comfortable position
-    Put books that are frequently requested on a cart near the front
-    Use the appropriate ladder or step to reach books on high shelves without straining your body

Administrators

-    Before buying furniture and equipment, determine the product’s use and research the available options to find the ones with the best ergonomic principles
-    Purchase appropriate back supports for the members of the staff who spends long hours sitting in front of a computer due to the demands of their jobs

There is no question about it; appropriate ergonomics will enhance school staff and students’ performance while at school, and even during after school activities, without mentioning the positive attitude it will bring into their work and lives due to the feeling of wellness that comes with improving ones general posture.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.trucomfort.com as the original source).

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However normal, it is not exciting to think about bearing back pain in addition to the dreaded morning sickness, constipation, rashes, hormonal changes, and even lifestyle changes that accompany pregnancy.  Back pain in pregnant women can last up to three months after the delivery, and it is located mainly on hip joints, lower back, mid-back, neck, shoulders, and jaw joint.

You don’t have to endure the pain as one of the ‘sacrifices’ of pregnancy.  It is not hard at all to treat and even prevent back pain when you are pregnant; it just takes some self-care treatments and complementary therapies.

The human body has a powerful balance system that adapts in order to keep us straight under many different conditions.  This system has two parts:

-    The sensory part, which asks, “Where am I?”
-    The motor part, which asks, “What am I going to do?”

Nevertheless, any adaptation has its inconveniences.  When a woman’s weight increases around 25 pounds, her center of gravity and mass move forward.  Right then, the balance system starts working to realign, slowly but steadily, the pelvis and spine to counter balance the extra weight.  With time, the center of gravity will move back.

The spinal changes that occur are very foreseeable.  The pelvis leans forward, the mid-back glides backwards, and the head and neck move in front of the shoulders.  The spine has a natural ‘S’ shape curve caused by the joining of muscles and ligaments.  If this curve changes, several muscles will stretch and others will shorten, causing the spine to be unstable, which in turn causes chronic tension in some muscle groups and extra strain on joints.  If a muscle maintains a stretched position for far too long, eventually its fibers will elongate and weaken, the same as if a muscle is over-relaxed for extended periods of time, which shortens its fibers.

Another element of the pregnancy back pain equation is shear forces.  A person with normal posture experiences downward gravitational and directional shear forces that work with the body to secure the joints into position under load, giving strength and stability to the spine.  Pregnant women experience the same gravitational forces but the shear forces change direction to open the lower back joints, giving less stability to the spine.  The body feels this, and the lower back muscles tighten to offer support.

During pregnancy, it is very clear which muscles weaken due to stretch and which due to shortening, making it easy for a professional to design an exercise program to strengthen those muscles.  Also, appropriate back supports can help alleviate the pain while sitting down.

This is an unavoidable but manageable situation for pregnant women; it just requires the right effort to improve posture given the extra weight that will be endured, and the right preventive measures.

If you liked this article, tell all your friends about it. They’ll thank you for it. If you have a blog or website, you can link to it or even post it to your own site (don’t forget to mention www.trucomfort.com as the original source).

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